This invention relates to refractory insulation sheathing for furnace members made of tubular metal, in particular horizontal pipes of water cooled supporting structures for stock under treatment in a furnace.
The invention is especially suitable for cross-over pipes which support the rails along which stock is moved in reheat furnaces for ferrous slabs, and will be described as applied thereto, but application of the invention to tubular supporting rails themselves and to other tubular members in furnaces where similar conditions exist is not precluded.
In a reheat furnace, slabs must be heated to a very high temperature, for example 1100.degree. to 1400.degree.C., as uniformly as possible and the slabs are therefore moved, by pushers or walking beams, along raised skid rails, usually water-cooled hollow rails rupported by a structure, like a gantry, of water-cooled hollow members while they are heated from above and below by intensely hot gas blast from burners.
The supporting structure is directly in the path of hot gas and, as well as being water cooled, the hollow rails an supports are sheathed with refractory material.